Wreckage of missing Myanmar military plane found ISIS kills more than 200 civilians
MYANMAR - Wreckage and bodies from a Myanmar military flight that had gone missing Wednesday afternoon have been discovered in the Andaman Sea, the military has confirmed.
Aircraft parts and the remains of two adults and a child, along with life jackets and luggage were discovered at 8:18 a.m. yesterday local time (9:48 p.m. wednesday ET), 14 miles west of Kyauk Ni Maw in Rakhine state, the statement said. The search operation is ongoing.
The plane, with 122 people on board, lost contact 29 minutes after taking off from the coastal town of Myeik. It was headed toward Yangon and part of a regularly scheduled military flight, a military spokesman told CNN on Wednesday.
Of the 122 people on board, 108 were passengers and 14 were crew, Capt. Myat Min Oo said. Myanmar state media reported that 15 children and 58 civilian adults were among the missing. The other passengers were military personnel.
Myanmar authorities lost contact with the plane at 1:35 p.m. local time. The plane was reportedly flying at an altitude of 18,000 feet. Nine Navy ships and three airplanes are searching for the plane in the Andaman Sea to the south of Yangon.
The aircraft was a Chinesemade Shaanxi Y8-200F fourturboprop plane. It had recently been purchased and logged 809 flight hours. The Myanmar military Shaanxi Y8200F four-turboprop plane that crashed in the Andaman Sea on June 7, 2017.
Early reports said weather wasn’t to blame. Kyaw Kyaw Htay, a civil aviation official at Myeik airport said the weather had been normal when the flight had departed, according to reports. However, given the season and satellite imagery CNN meteorologist Tom Sater says he wouldn’t rule out storms being the cause for the aircraft’s failure. “This is the wet season and thunderstorms and showers do develop but nothing significant was noted at the time the plane went missing”, he said. (CNN)
South Korea’s joint chiefs said the projectiles, launched near the eastern port city of Wonsan, were believed to be surface-to-ship cruise missiles.
“We assess that North Korea USA - ISIS murdered more than 200 civilians over three days as they tried to flee fighting last week in western Mosul, Iraq, the United Nation’s human rights office said, citing “credible reports.”
At least 231 civilians were killed starting May 26, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said, adding that the murder of civilians amounts to war crimes.
In one reported case, ISIS slaughtered 163 civilians on June 1 and left their bodies in the street for days, the UN said. Days earlier, militants killed 27 people, including 14 women and five children; neighbors buried the bodies
North Korea has launched 16 missiles in 10 tests so far in 2017, and yesterday’s test was the fourth since new South Korean President Moon two days later. “Shooting children as they try to run to safety with their families, there are no words of condemnation strong enough for such despicable acts”, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement.
“I call on the Iraqi authorities to ensure that those who are responsible for these horrors are held accountable and brought to justice in line with international human rights laws and standards”, he said. “The victims of such terrible crimes must not be forgotten.” Iraqi forces have been attempting to retake the city since October. Security forces launched a large-scale military operation late last month to reclaim the remaining ISIS-held neighborhoods.
The fighting has caused significant displacement. The Iraqi government said more than 742,000 people have left Mosul and surrounding areas since the offensive began. The United Nations migration agency warned last month that the number of people fleeing western Mosul is soaring. (CNN)